Your face, marred by dust and sweat and blood

Almost a year ago I started my coaching and training business. As I reflect back, I can’t help but smile and feel whimsical. What an experience it has been! Electrifying. Despite some moments of doubt, persistence has paid off. For 2011, the pipeline is rapidly filling.

But this post isn’t about blowing my own horn. It’s about recognizing what you’ve done in 2010 so far, and giving you inspiration for what you will do in 2011. If you’re starting something new, something that terrifies you, but feel you just MUST do, read this quote, courtesy of Theodore Roosevelt. Print it. Keep it in your pocket. Stick it on your wall. And when you’re right at the edge, read it. Again.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Happy Holidays,

-Andre